(WASHINGTON, AP) — The Latest on campaign 2016 in the lead up to Tuesday’s New York primary (all times Eastern Daylight Time):

11:50 a.m.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is making a pitch to New York voters saying a state law banning fracking is hurting the economy and diverting jobs to neighboring states.

Cruz said Thursday during a taping of a MSNBC town hall meeting in Buffalo, New York, that state is wrong to have a law banning hydraulic fracturing, an oil-and-gas extraction method known as fracking.

He said legalizing it could put thousands of people to work in upstate New York where there are large shale reserves that could be tapped.

Cruz blamed the anti-fracking law on “knuckleheaded Democratic politicians.” His comments came after being asked yet again to defend his criticism of “New York values.”

Cruz said the people of upstate New York “have been suffering under the misguided policies of liberal Democratic politicians for a long, long time.”

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10:30 a.m.

Speaker Paul Ryan says the whole world is watching American politics and that he can understand how Middle East allies would be rattled by Republican Donald Trump’s comments.

In an interview with reporters Thursday, the Wisconsin Republican criticized the president’s foreign policy and said allies wanted to know if the U.S. is “still in the game.” Ryan recently led a congressional delegation to five countries, including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan and Egypt.

He said allies were rattled a bit by administration policy. Asked if Trump’s comments had rattled them as well, Ryan said, “Sure. I get that, too. Everybody pays attention to our politics.”

Ryan said it’s unrealistic to think that if the U.S. pulls back, “our oceans are going to save us.”

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10:10 a.m.

A top Donald Trump adviser says the businessman is on a “glide path” to reaching the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the Republican nomination.

Ed Brookover spoke to reporters Thursday following a meeting with House members who have endorsed Trump. He says the meeting was the first in a series of gatherings he’ll be holding with lawmakers.

While Brookover did not spell out Trump’s path to the nomination in detail, Rep. Chris Collins, R-NY, says meeting participants outlined a scenario in which Trump receives 1,265 delegates.

Collins says that scenario is based on Trump winning nearly all of the delegates in Tuesday’s New York primary and the race continuing through California on June 7.

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9:05 a.m.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is disavowing remarks made by a campaign surrogate who said voters shouldn’t “continue to elect corporate Democratic whores” during a large New York City rally.

Sanders said on Twitter Thursday that the comment by Dr. Paul Song “was inappropriate and insensitive.” He writes that “there’s no room for language like that in our political discourse.”

Song is a California health care activist who was among several speakers who spoke before Sanders addressed a Wednesday night rally in Washington Square Park.

Song said Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had said Sanders’ Medicare for all plan wouldn’t happen. He said it wouldn’t happen if voters “continue to elect corporate Democratic whores” beholden to special interests.